Your Typical Itinerary
Please note: itineraries and activities are subject to change.
Your itinerary will depend on whether you are doing the 8, 12 or 24-week option, but be assured that all stages are planned and overseen by very experienced tour staff.
Weeks 1-2: Base Camp
During the first two weeks you’ll spend time getting to know your fellow travellers, as well as the crew of the onsite organisation, Eventure. You’ll explore Chichiriviche, kayak through the national park of Morrocoy and camp around the different islands.
Every morning you’ll have approximately four Spanish lessons. During the first classes you will be divided into two groups – beginners and advanced, receiving traditional lessons combined with activities within the groups and sometimes with the locals.
We will open the doors to a slice of Venezuelan culture – dancing the salsa and merenge, cooking traditional plates while sharing our ways of life with the people we encounter. Local musicians will visit us in order to share their rhythm.
Whilst you’re at the camp you sleep in large comfortable hammocks. The hammock house is very large and it has a first floor with a nice view and a fresh wind. It is a very nice place to relax and it is also here you will receive your Spanish lessons.
Our base in Chichiriviche is located only three minutes from the beach, so you can go swimming, snorkelling, waterskiing or just chill out on the beautiful beach.
Week 3: Los Llanos
Los Llanos is located in the south west of Venezuela and it will take us approximately nine hours to get there from the camp. The experience you get from these lowlands depends on the season. If we are there in the rainy season everything is very colourful and there are swamps all around, with all the wildlife they bring. In the dry season almost everything is completely dry. Like a desert, the surface of the earth is brown and full of cracks. During this time the animals will give up their individual territories and gather wherever they can find water. This means you’ll see a greater amount of different animals in the same place at the same time. The main attractions of these lowlands are huge crocs and anacondas, but the variety of birds is also amazing.
The culture of the place is something really special. Here you’ll live among real “cowboys” who will teach us some traditional tricks and if you’re lucky, you might throw a lasso that will catch your first cow.
In Los Llanos you’ll stay partly in tents and partly in the facilities of the lowland camps (beds or hammocks). Spanish lessons are given in the morning. Some local sites or activities may take us a full day to experience and during these full-day trips the Spanish lessons will be pushed on to another day.
Weeks 4-5: Orinoco Delta
The Orinoco Delta is located in the east of Venezuela. This will be the first expedition where we don’t have a base, as we move constantly from one place to the next every day. On the way into the jungle we camp in Warao settlements, which is mostly a nice plain piece of land right next to the river. A typical Warao house is made of wood covered with palm leaves. In these houses we hang up our expedition hammocks and sleep for the night. If we can find dry wood we burn this for the cooking, if not we use our multifuel burners.
You will find yourself right in the middle of a huge and exciting wilderness where you will be living like the Warao Indians do and have done for thousands of years. In kayaks, we travel 120km along the big Orinoco River into the jungle. We take it nice and easy so everyone can keep up and enjoy the beautiful nature. We slide silently through the water surrounded by monkeys, parrots, dolphins, piranhas, boas, anacondas, eagles and crocs. This is the ultimate way to explore this area. During these two weeks we encounter Warao culture, observe how they weave the moriche palms into the best hammocks in the world, play soccer with the Indian kids and stay in the Indian villages.
Week 6: Base Camp
We go back to Chichiriviche base camp for a few days. You can relax on the beach, perhaps play some volleyball, write a few emails, call your parents, wash your clothes, have Spanish lessons, gather your equipment, pack your bags and off we go to “La Gran Sabana”!
Weeks 7-8: La Gran Sabana
The Gran Sabana is located in the southeast of Venezuela close to the Brazilian border. The whole area has an altitude of 800 metres above sea level. This gives us a nice temperature and fresh air. The ground is partly hard rock and red dirt combined with big areas of green grass fields and mystical Tepuis, odd table-topped mountains. We will explore the scenery and climb the famous Tepuis, “Roraima”.
We will leave Chichiriviche at around 5am and head for El Tigre where we spend the night. This will be a long ride, but we will have a few good stops on the way. Next morning we have seven or eight hours of driving before we reach the famous “El Dorado” river, we camp near the riverbank within a hundred meters from the “Eiffel Bridge” (designed by the same person who designed the Eiffel Tower of Paris)! The next morning we enter the highlands starting with “the ladder” (the entrance of the highlands). Once we have entered there will be plenty of things to stop and see. We pass places where you can swim in the rivers underneath the waterfalls and see giant rocks and wonderful views of the rainforest.
In this very highland Conan Doyle was inspired to write his great novel “The Lost World,” and as a tribute to Doyle, Steven Spielberg recorded the first 2½ minutes of Jurassic park “the Lost World” in the Gran Sabana. Forget about the movie; you will see the real deal with your own eyes!
The village where we will be staying is called San Francisco and there are a lot of nice lagoons and waterfalls all around. There is a natural water slide 1½ hours walk from here, with a big river and some really nice views. SFS is an Indian village and the Pemon Indians who used to hunt with bow and arrow still hunt around in the Sabana, but now with rifles. We will socialise with these Indians by playing basketball and football etc. and have them as guides on our trips.
In total we spend seven days in different camps around the village area, six days climbing up and down Roraima and two days in Santa Helena (excl. the long drive from chichi and back). In the village you will sleep in tents and large hammocks, On the top of Roraima only tents, and in Santa Helena you will stay at a hotel with nice beds, hot water and cold beers.
If you are doing the 8-week programme, you will be transferred back to Caracas at this point, from where you can fly home or continue your travels independently.
Weeks 9-12: Volunteer Work or 3rd month activity option
During these four weeks you will have a choice of activities. Depending on the package you have chosen, you will either be volunteering for this period or doing an activity programme. You will be given the options available to you in both of these areas when you arrive in Venezuela, but here a few possible examples:
Intensive Spanish gives you an opportunity to continue your Spanish studies. We combine the traditional way of teaching with excursions and cultural events such as theatre, movies, baseball, dance and music. We arrange all kinds of tournaments and events with the locals to enable you to practice your Spanish.
100% adventure gives you all the action - the possibilities for adventure travel in Venezuela are almost inexhaustible. From wandering through wildlife filled savannahs, to wading through dense steaming tropical jungle; hiking up to the top a mysterious tepuis, or climbing up a glaciated 5,000m Andean peak, the opportunities for adventure travel can be as mild or as wild as you wish. You will discover Venezuela by kayak, mountain bikes, horseback and on foot. You will test your survival skills – but the group sets the pace!
Part of the 100% Adventure programme takes place in Merida in the Andean Highlands and the rest of the various activities take place near the coast.
Here are some other examples of activities that are on the 100% adventure programme:
- Sightseeing in Merida - including the highest cable car in the world
- Pendula (Bridge Jumping)
- Up 'n' Downhill Mountain biking
- Canyoning
- Rock Climbing
- Horseback riding and trout fishing
- Mountain trekking
- Hot Springs
- Trekking
Diving and snorkelling in the marine area in the Morrocoy National Park, surrounded by mangroves, islands and beaches, which are among the most beautiful and safe of all the coastal Caribbean. We enjoy the abundant marine life, spend some nights on small islands and explore caves and corals.
Big game Fishing or deep-sea fishing is popular throughout most of the region and many of the International Game Fishing Association’s world record catches were registered here. We will be fishing for blue marlin, swordfish, shark, and sailfish. Closer inshore, we will find barracuda, bonefish, kingfish, mackerel, tarpon, amberjack, grouper and snappers. We will also be fishing in Venezuela’s rivers and lakes.
There are a couple of optional extra activities that will be at your own expense:
River-rafting: Two-day trip in the state of Merida. River-rafting on the wild river near Aceique. Price around US$120 depending on group size. This activity is only available if the weather conditions permit.
Diving Certificate: NAVI and open water certificate equal to PADI open water. It will contain five dives (one dive free) both inside and outside the National park of Morrocoy. Approximate price (if more than four persons): US$290.
Volunteer Work
During the work period you will be using your Spanish and living with the locals. Most of the time you will be sent out in pairs. For those doing the full 24-week programme, you will be able to choose several different projects. You will be given more information about the projects and asked to choose which ones you would like to take part in when you arrive in Venezuela. Examples include:
Foundation del Niño, Puerto La Cruz. Puerto La Cruz is a town very much marked by American presence. In the region you will find the Mochima National Park and great beaches in Santa Fe and Guanta. You can work with street children or teach at a local school.
Hato El Frío, Los Llanos. Los Llanos is a gigantic nature resort with a diverse wildlife: crocodiles, turtles, anacondas, birds and much more. You can work at a Nature Resort and work with animals – you can help guiding the tourists around the park or even help hatching crocodile and turtle eggs!
Other possibilities are working in a kindergarten, a boy’s home, a vet, a local newspaper, in a golf club, a tourist office or helping to build schools etc. Some projects disappear and new ones take over. For this reason we cannot guarantee that the places mentioned are available.
If you are doing a 12-week programme, you will be transferred to Caracas airport at this point, from where you can fly home or continue your travels independently.
Weeks 13-20: Volunteer Work Around Venezuela
You can choose two different projects in Venezuela, as mentioned above. You will live in the camp or with a host family, depending on the project.
Weeks 21-22: Canaima
Trek to Canaima, with visits to Pemon villages. Optional canoe trip to Angel Falls, with trekking and trips to lots of waterfalls, costing approximately $75 from Canaima.
Weeks 23-24: Base Camp
Time for partying and saying goodbye to all your friends, the guides and the locals.
